Posted by Kim Otte on Mon, Oct 19, 2009 @ 02:44 PM
A power outage, however brief, can cause most data centers and businesses to grind to a halt. As a result, information, productivity and profit can be lost. Using an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is the easiest way to provide secure power to protect your mission critical systems. 
The UPS system protects against all types of power supply failures and disturbances. How does this work? By positioning the UPS system between incoming power supply and the load, when then the main power fails, the UPS system switches to the backup UPS batteries, ensuring an unbroken power supply is available to keep the critical load fully operational.
The need to properly size a UPS system is critical to its reliability and the systems need to be able to grow along with your data center. Data center managers need to make sure that in today's ever changing per-rack power demands - this is done correctly.
Recently Electronic Environments Corporation (EEC) Design/Build Manager, Jim Stark, offered his knowledge on the subject. I encourage you to check out the editorial at processor.com. You will find answers to questions such as:
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What are the main factors to consider when choosing the size of a UPS for a data center?
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What is important for readers to understand about VA ratings of UPSs?
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Are there different considerations for blade servers vs standard servers?
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And more...
Does anyone have additional recommendations for sizing a UPS system?
Posted by Kim Otte on Mon, Oct 19, 2009 @ 02:44 PM
Preventive maintenance is one of the key approaches to protecting a facility through detection of potential points of failure before the deficiency initiates a system-wide malfunction, this is key for mission critical facilities. What if the output of your UPS or DC power system was interrupted for even a few seconds? This would cause a huge disruption in your critical load, which in turn could cost your business serious downtime and money.
Neglecting to maintain equipment or implementing improper maintenance procedures are two of the biggest reasons why mission critical equipment fails. Two of the heaviest hitters in the data center - power and cooling equipment - require regular maintenance to ensure that power, temperature, or humidity fluctuations do not cost a company thousands, if not millions, of dollars. According to Ken Nason, Power Technician at Electronic Environments, 90-95% of failures that he sees in the field are caused by batteries, capacitors and fans that have not been properly maintained.
Timely and Proper Equipment Maintenance
There are a few important questions that IT and data center managers need to ask themselves to make sure they are on the right track in terms of timely and proper equipment maintenance; these include: What maintenance needs to be done on the equipment or hardware? When? How often?
Pictured here is a damaged UPS Inverter Assembly, the damage happened when one of the aging capacitors blew up; this is the type of damage that can occur if your UPS isn't properly maintained.
There are different scopes of work for each piece of equipment and most equipment manufacturers have a recommended maintenance schedule. Maintenance should include a visual inspection where you are looking for dust, leaks, or corrosion. In the end, a properly maintained system will ensure that when called upon, the system performs according to the manufacturer's specifications.
Electronic Environments' preventive maintenance visits serve as an in-depth examination of specific equipment, as well as a general review of the site conditions. Electronic Environments' goal is to minimize unscheduled emergency visits and maximize infrastructure run time.
Conclusion
In today's critical environments, IT service continuity is a high priority; incorporating a preventive maintenance program will help keep your systems up and running continuously. The below figure depicts the change in the mindset of IT managers today. (provided by Forrester Research, Inc.)
Posted by Michael Kingsley on Mon, Oct 19, 2009 @ 11:42 AM
Engineering, construction and maintenance has become an increasingly complex undertaking in today's data centers. Our blog is to promote an open exchange of ideas, questions and recommendations relating to these issues in data centers, computer rooms and other mission critical facilities.
The blog is hosted and monitored by knowledgeable and experienced engineers and maintenance experts at Electronic Environments Corporation.
We will discuss best practices and trends relating to the physical infrastructure in critical environments like data centers and server rooms; including power, cooling, fire protection, equipment layout, preventive and proactive maintenance, energy management solutions and more.
Electronic Environments offers a broad range of expertise; from engineering, construction and maintenance services (with emphasis on electrical and mechanical systems), to data center cooling and energy management and monitoring solutions. Our mission is to help you keep your critical facility up and running continuously.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
Mike
Michael Kingsley
President
Electronic Environments Corporation
mkingsley@eecnet.com